Storm Front: The Dresden Files, Book 1

A call from a distraught wife, and another from Lt Murphy of the Chicago PD Special Investigation Unit makes Harry believe things are looking up, but they are about to get worse, much worse. Someone is harnessing immense supernatural forces to commit a series of grisly murders. Someone has violated the first law of magic: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Tracking that someone takes Harry into the dangerous underbelly of Chicago, from mobsters.

In this dark and gritty collection - featuring short stories from Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Kevin J. Anderson, and Rob Thurman - nothing is as simple as black and white, light and dark, good and evil.... Unfortunately, that's exactly what makes it so easy to cross the line.

The Aeronaut's Windlass: The Cinder Spires, Book 1

Since time immemorial the Spires have sheltered humanity, towering for miles over the mist-shrouded surface of the world. Within their halls aristocratic houses have ruled for generations, developing scientific marvels, fostering trade alliances, and building fleets of airships to keep the peace. Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship Predator. Fiercely loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy's shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels.

Grimoire of the Lamb: An Iron Druid Chronicles Novella

When he’s not vanquishing villainous gods or dodging demons, 2,000-year-old Druid Atticus O’Sullivan can be found behind the counter of Third Eye Books and Herbs in modern-day Tempe, Arizona, literally minding his own business. But when an evil sorcerer - and amateur shoplifter - snatches an ancient Egyptian tome of black magic, The Grimoire of the Lamb, Atticus is not sheepish about pursuing him to the ends of the earth...or at least to the Land of the Pharaohs.

Nightlife

In New York, there's a troll under the Brooklyn Bridge, a boggle in Central Park, and a beautiful vampire in a penthouse on the Upper East Side. Of course, most humans are oblivious to this, but Cal Leandros is only half-human. His father's dark lineage is the stuff of nightmares - and he and his entire otherworldly race are after Cal.

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners

With New Orleans out of control, Chad Oliver Gardenier, one of Monster Hunter International's premier hunters, has been dispatched from Seattle to reinforce the beleaguered members of MHI'S Hoodoo Squad in their fight against the darkness.

Vampire Empire - The Greyfriar

1870. A time known as The Great Killing. The vampire clans arose and slaughtered humanity with unprecedented carnage in the northern parts of the world. Millions perished; millions were turned into herd animals. The great industrialized civilizations of the world were left in ruin. A remnant fled south to the safety of the ever present heat which was intolerable to vampires. There, blending with the local peoples, they rebuilt their societies founded on human ingenuity, steam and iron.

Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection

An all-new Stormlight Archive novella is the crown jewel of Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection, the first audiobook of short fiction by New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson. The collection includes eight works in all. Originally published on Tor.com and other websites, or published by the author, these wonderful tales convey the expanse of the Shardworlds and tell exciting tales of adventure Sanderson fans have come to expect.

Fated: Alex Verus Series, Book 1

Alex Verus is part of a world hidden in plain sight, running a magic shop in London. And while Alex's own powers aren't as showy as some mages, he does have the advantage of foreseeing the possible future-allowing him to pull off operations that have a million-to-one-chance of success. But when Alex is approached by multiple factions to crack open a relic from a long-ago mage war, he knows that whatever's inside must be beyond powerful.

Dead Man: Black Magic Outlaw, Book 1

I'm Cisco Suarez: necromancer, shadow charmer, black magic outlaw. Sounds kinda cool, doesn't it? It was, right until I woke up half dead in a dumpster. Did I say half dead? Because I meant 100% dead. Full on. I don't do things halfway. So here I am, alive for some reason, just another sunny day in Miami. It's a perfect paradise, except I'm into something bad. Wanted by police, drenched in the stink of dark magic, nether creatures coming out of the woodwork, and don't get me started on the Haitian voodoo gang.

The Blood Mirror

When does an empire fall? The Seven Satrapies have collapsed into four - and those are falling before the White King's armies. Gavin Guile, ex-emperor, ex-Prism, ex-galley slave, formerly the one man who might have averted war, is now lost, broken, and trapped in a prison crafted by his own hands to hold a great magical genius. But Gavin has no magic at all. Worse, in this prison Gavin may not be alone.

Free the Darkness: King's Dark Tidings, Book 1

Raised and trained in seclusion at a secret fortress on the edge of the northern wilds of the Kingdom of Ashai, a young warrior called Rezkin is unexpectedly thrust into the outworld when a terrible battle destroys all that he knows. With no understanding of his life’s purpose and armed with masterful weapons mysteriously bestowed upon him by a dead king, Rezkin must travel across Ashai to find the one man who may hold the clues to his very existence.

Monster Hunter International

Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a 14th story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer. It turns out that monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Some of them are evil, and some are just hungry. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business. And now Owen is their newest recruit.

The Warring Son

Raz i'Syul Arro is a hunted man. To the south, the Mahsadën of Miropa are gone. The šef lay dead, slain at Raz's own hands, their cruel will ripped from the shadows of the city. In response, riders careen to every reachable corner of the known realms, telling anyone with a mind to listen of the boundless riches promised for the Monster's head. The world now turned against him, Raz is forced to flee, escaping along the northern roads just as the summer months come to an end.

The Child Thief

The award-winning artist Brom takes us on a haunting look at the true world of Peter Pan, in his first full-length novel. From modern day New York to the dying land of Faerie, The Child Thief reveals the world of Peter Pan through the eyes of an insecure runaway who is seduced by Peter’s charm. But any dreams of a fairy wonderland are quickly replaced by the reality of life and death survival as Peter’s recruits are forced into a lethal battle in which the line between good and evil is blurred.

Three: Legends of the Duskwalker, Book 1

The world has collapsed, and there are no heroes any more.His name is Three, a travelling gun for hire in a dying world. He has no allegiances, no family, no ties.Against his better judgment, he accepts the mantle of protector to a sick woman on the run, and her young son. Together they set out across the plains in search of a mythic oasis, attempting to survive the forces that pursue them, and the creatures of the dark.In these dark times, a hero may yet arise.

Neverwhere

Richard Mayhew is an unassuming young businessman living in London, with a dull job and a pretty but shrewish fiancée. Then one night he stumbles upon a girl lying on the sidewalk, bleeding. He stops to help her, and his life is changed forever. Soon he finds himself living in a London most people would never have dreamed of: a city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels. It is a world that exists entirely in a subterranean labyrinth of sewer canals and abandoned subway stations.

The Purloined Poodle

Thanks to his relationship with the ancient Druid Atticus O'Sullivan, Oberon the Irish wolfhound knows trouble when he smells it - and furthermore, he knows he can handle it. When he discovers that a prizewinning poodle has been abducted in Eugene, Oregon, he learns that it's part of a rash of hound abductions all over the Pacific Northwest. Since the police aren't too worried about dogs they assume have run away, Oberon knows it's up to him to track down those hounds and reunite them with their humans. For justice! And gravy!

Publisher's Summary

Harry Dresden lives!

After being murdered by a mystery assailant, navigating his way through the realm between life and death, and being brought back to the mortal world, Harry realizes that maybe death wasn’t all that bad - because he is no longer Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard. He is now Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness.

After Harry had no choice but to swear his fealty, Mab wasn’t about to let something as petty as death steal away the prize she had sought for so long. And now, her word is his command, no matter what she wants him to do, no matter where she wants him to go, and no matter who she wants him to kill. Guess which one Mab wants first?

Of course, it won’t be an ordinary, everyday assassination. Mab wants her newest minion to pull off the impossible: kill an immortal. No problem there, right? And to make matters worse, there exists a growing threat to an unfathomable source of magic that could land Harry in the sort of trouble that will make death look like a holiday.

Beset by enemies new and old, Harry must gather his friends and allies, prevent the annihilation of countless innocents, and find a way out of his eternal subservience before his newfound powers claim the only thing he has left to call his own… his soul.

This is book 14, so no introduction to the plot or summary of the series so far will either make sense to new readers or be interesting to series regulars. So, instead, it is worth asking, is Cold Days worth reading if you are already a Dresden fan? And, perhaps more importantly, does it give you hope for the continued adventures of Dresden in the future? The answers are both "hell, yes!"

Remember, we are 14 books into a series, one in which hundreds of characters have been introduced, where each book reveals bigger secrets than the last about the universe, and where every potential proverbial shark has been jumped, including the resurrection of the main character. And yet Butcher somehow, against all reason and expectation, keeps writing books that feel as if there is an overarching plot that makes sense, with real character progression, internal consistency, and a vibrant but changing world.

It is worth noting this achievement, since, to my knowledge, no fantasy or science fiction series of this length has ever pulled off a series of such consistent highs, and on a nearly yearly basis! Robert Jordan and George R. R. Martin lost steam along the way, Bujold makes each story fairly self-contained, Pratchett switches characters, and most other epic series feel a bit like the TV shows Lost or Twin Peaks - spinning out of the creators control with needless complication and wandering attention. Not the Dresden files! The action is still exciting, the humor still solid, and the characters still engaging. And, as per usual, the stakes get ever higher, while still leaving room for both mystery and future books.

The short version: the book is excellent, and the series an achievement that has managed to transcend its fantasy-noir roots. The only reason not to get it is if you haven't read the first 13.

Having downloaded the book a few minutes after two in the morning, the day of its release, and taking only a few hours to catch a little sleep, and do that annoying thing called work in between, I just came up for air having spent the best eighteen hours and fifty minutes that I have spent in a long time. Then, taking time only to reacquaint myself with the family again, I couldn’t wait to write this review; Kudos to those reviewers who could transcend time. Harry’s back and he’s alive again. For those keeping up on the series he had been dead in the last book and only by the help of Mab was he able to come back to the mortal world; but now he belongs to the Queen of Winter as her white knight. Of course, this is Harry and he has every intention of defying her whenever he can. The story begins in Artic Tor where Harry meets some new “friends,” and begins his rehab; coming back to life is not easy. After some interesting rehab exercises, orchestrated by Mab, Harry almost feels like his old self again and then receives a surprise birthday party, thrown by some of his new winter court friends. Having survived his birthday party Harry receives his first assignment as the new white knight. In order to complete his assignment, and keep his island Demonreach from exploding and taking half of Chicago with it, Harry seeks out his old companions; Bob, the skull, His half-brother Thomas, Molly his apprentice, and the pizza loving faeire general Toot-Toot, to name a few. This was a great listening experience; Jim Butcher writes a superb story and the narrator, James Marsters, is Harry Dresden and gives a fantastic performance.

While I'm not sure "Enthralled" is the best title for a story featuring so many supernatural elements, I was enthralled. It was hard to stop listening to do things that others seem to think are necessary, like eat, sleep and work. I listened during my commute and any other minute I could squeeze in.

James Marsters, the narrator, does an excellent, nay - amazing - job of binging the characters to life. When I hear his voice, I know which character he is portraying. He delights!

If you're not already a fan of Jim Butcher's "The Dresden Files" this is not the place to start. There have been 13 previous books that led to this book. While you don't have to read all the stories before you get to this one, it does help.

If you're a fan, the story is an excellent extension of a long arc that has been building since we met Harry's Godmother and the Faery. There is so much character development and such great plot twists that I was carried along wishing that James Marsters could read a little faster... and knowing if he did that the story would end too soon. And after something like 14 hours, the story still ended too soon.

I am left counting the hours until the next book is released. Why? I could tell you, but that would be a spoiler, and I don't want to spoil this book for anyone.

Others here have written stellar reviews and I won't try to duplicate. I just want to say WOW. I just finished the book because I decided to start the series over and hold the new book out like the last morsel of some incredibly rare treat. So I've been totally immersed in Dresden's world for awhile now and I'm feeling a little bereft. I can't wait for the next book! I listened to this series more often than anything else I've ever owned and they just don't get old.

I absolutely HATED the book where Harry was dead. I didn't hate the book as a book, I mean it is a well-written piece of fiction by one of my absolute favorite authors, I mean I just hated Harry being dead! In retrospect I think it is perfect that the other guy did the narration for it. So now when we hear his voice well, it's because Harry is dead! I hope that poor guy gets work on other books that aren't quite as well established because he has talent and didn't deserve the thrashing he got here... but thank you James Marsters for coming back to life along with Harry!

My admiration for Jim Butcher has only increased with this installment. As others have noted, most series are losing steam and direction by book 14 but it seems that Mr. Butcher has lots left for our wizard. It must be so incredibly satisfying to be the creator of such a body of work and have such a loyal following. Good for you Mr. Butcher! Thank you.

I have to put a plug in here for his Codex Alera series too. Even if you're not a huge high fantasy fan these are worth a listen. Same high quality writing and character development.

What made the experience of listening to Cold Days the most enjoyable?

First, the story was incredible. Second, Marsters is THE VOICE for Harry Dresden, period. Butcher's style is fluid, shifting beautifully from action to dialogue to narrative introspection. Jim, I started reading the Dresden Files when the very first one was published. I've re-read them many, many times and have gone back even to listen to them all on audible. Thank you for investing so much into this story, making it more and more incredible with each new installment.

What other book might you compare Cold Days to and why?

You might disagree, but Cold Days reminds me some of the Roger Zelazny series (let's just go with the anthology titled "The Great Book of Amber".) Cold Days is perhaps an evolution of Urban Fantasy and flirts many times with the idea of a higher fantasy mentality where as "The Great Book of Amber" was more of a high fantasy flirting with concepts of urban fantasy.

What does James Marsters bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Marsters has depth for Harry's feelings and those around him. Butcher developed very deep and intricate events around equal parts dialogue, action and narrative perspective. Marsters transitions between all the elements that drive a Dresden novel rather seamlessly. After hearing Marsters's stellar performance on Book 14 after such a disappointing absence for Book 13, it's clear that he is the voice of the Dresden Files.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Yes. I'm not talking about it though.

Any additional comments?

Cold Days is different than the previous 13, in that there is a lot less censorship. Lot of F-bombs and more graphic sexual descriptions. I don't say these are negatives. None of it was gratuitous, but they do stand out and they give this installment of the Dresden Files a different vibe. Book 14 was rated R to me, where the other 13 were more PG-13. Again, this is not a complaint. Some people like to know these things, so I figure it's a worthy additional comment.

For those of you, like myself, that found Ghost Story a little lacking - Cold Days not only kicks the storyline up 3 notches, we finally see Harry back in his element. I can't enumerate the number of times that I was agog and aghast at the events unfurling and even now I've finished it I'm still stunned!

James Marsters IS Harry Dresden. No doubt in my mind and I hope that he continues narrating the series until its conclusion.

Thank you Jim Butcher for writing what I consider one of the best Urban Fantasy series in print at the moment.

Jim Butcher has done an outstanding job with this latest installment. I love the book, I love the way James Marsters does the narration (I still cannot get over how well he transitions from male to female voices without a hitch). This book is great - character development, story-line and of course details etc. Butcher mixes and simmers the brew until you are hooked and cannot go back. Every installment gets better and better. Even though the subject matter is fiction/fantasy - Jim does it in a way that is believable and keeps the reader wanting more. I have listened to this audiobook 3 times (I have a long commute) and even so I find myself getting into the scenes and characters finding nuances that I missed before. The interaction between some characters is downright hilarious while poignant and heartfelt moments still highlight some of Dresden's softer attributes without seeming sappy or awkward. Don't worry guys - this is PACKED with action, Harry is still Dirty Harry when it comes to the bad guys. Lots of killing, lots of magic and a lot of faeries. Definitely worth the time and money.

Butcher continues to amaze with this great story and our boy Harry Dresden is bigger and badder than ever. As the Winter Knight (and Mab's play thing), Harry has to battle not only the Winter Knight's Mantle that is trying to take him over, but Mab, Maeve, and seemingly the entire Winter Court. Throw in Outsiders, Demonreach, and oh, Harry trying to deal with all the relationships he had before dying and coming back, Molly, Karrin, and Thomas, and you've got a fast paced roller coaster ride that seemingly will never end as more and more obstacles get thrown in Harry's path.

If there is one problem I have with this book (and it's happened in several of the other Dresden books, though not frequently) is that Butcher seems to continue to pile on Harry's troubles. There is the requisite "issue" Harry is dealing with, and the little subplots that surround it, but then Butcher just keeps adding more and more roadblocks, issues, and problems that seem to stretch Harry beyond his capacity. It just feels, I don't know, like he's making it overly dramatic just for the sake of doing it. It always ends up working out in the end and I do realize that it all has a purpose in moving the story forward. Butcher also does this thing where he puts Harry up against immortals and such that severely outclass him, and Harry even says in the books "there is no way to beat such and such a creature" and yet, in the end, Harry miraculously prevails and finds some loophole. It's a minor gripe, and doesn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the book. This is still an excellent book and great continuation of the series. I can't wait for the next book!

James Marsters narration gets better and better with each book and he does an excellent job reading Cold Days. When I first started listening to this series I wasn't crazy about him, but now, he IS Harry Dresden!

Not only is Marsters great, he IS Harry Dresden. 'Nough said about that.

I don't know of any author but Jim Butcher who can pen a 14-novel series and never make you feel that he is just churning-out another block of words for a paycheck. If anything, he gets better. 'Days' has all of the action and humor that we expect Jim, Harry, and James to deliver. I can't wait for the next installment.